Conference napalm::commusic_v1

    FWIW - Looks to me like the first time Keytek advertized was the
    July '87 KEYBOARD.  My guess is that the company started 10 years
    ago was really Gibson.  Either that, or they using the
    we_only_released_it_when_it_was_perfect excuse instead of the
    boy_did_we_slip_the_schedule excuse.  The thing looks attractive
    enough.  Guessing $1200-2000.  My guess is that since they've placed
    two glossy ads toward the front (big bucks), KEYBOARD will review
    them in the September or October issue.  If you're really interested,
    you might talk with Shane or somebody to see if they heard a demo.
    I'm interested, but $ <= 0.
    
    Steve

    They Keytek is yet another wave table synth with yet another interface,
    (gee, no sh*t, steph).  I just wish we could see something REALLY
    NEW in synthesis, rather than a new program used to load the wave
    table.
    
    I dunno, quantum mechanical synthesis?  What we really need is a few
    new laws of physics.  You guys want to form some sort of a task force
    or committee to pass a few new physical laws allowing more interesting
    synthesis?  It's easy to do almost anything in DEC as long as you have
    a few task forces, and send memos around to dozens of important people
    who never read them.  I think we should start by abolishing all those
    annoying sampling theorems... 
    
    
    I'm still waiting.
    
    Steph
                          

    Gee, could we get Ohm's Law repealed? I always hated being limited
    to one result when I get to pick the other two factors.
    
    Edd

    
    Whats really not mentioned (did I miss it?) is how 'loong'
    the samples (tables) are. READ: how static sounding is the
    wave they produce. Cross fading or interpolating or adding
    or whatevering from a sawtooth to a square is boring. period.
    
    Me thinks thats why they have the good old VCF VCA in the 
    sound chain. 
    
    But Im always eager to hear something new....
    
    ron_waiting_too_for_the_new

re: .3
If a metal doesn't change it's resistance when the voltage is changed,
it follows Ohms law.  E=IR is just a definition.

Anyway, general purpose audio digital signal processing systems are probably
irreducibly flexible, given sufficient bandwidth and instrucions and memory,
so you can design your own synthesis style, which is what they have always
done in large universities' research departments, with general purpose
computers and dsp co-processors.  Modern micro computers seem to have some
of this capability with there DA/AD, but really you need a full DSP
co-processor, and these are available for the most popular personal computers.
Their adveritised in the MIT computer music journal (see me in X:3).

Keep in mind the reason all these screwy synthesis techniques came out
(additive, FM, phase distortion) was to make cheap manufacturable affordable
user-friendly compromises with the most general techniques.  Just as
at a lower level, cheaper Roland pianos seem to use the same electronics as
high-end ones, but don't offer programmabilty.
Tom

    
    Heard in a note on USENET that the mysterious KEYTEK is really just
    a new name for our old pal SIEL, now being distributed by the folks
    at Gibson guitars.
    
    I finally saw two of their boxes at a store in Worcester; didn't
    hear them but they looked cheap, sub-Casio even.  And the prices
    were high...$500 for a four-octave preset only synth and $1000 for
    a five-octave programmable one.
    
    

    weren't the Siel keyboards also rather cheap?
             
    dave

    RE .7  Well Dave, let's just say they wouldn't get my "Siel" of
    approval!! 
    
    Sorry, couldn't resist!!
    
    
    Mike D.
    

    Another guy I know had a Seil DK-80.  What a crock:
    	
    	1) all parameters were identified by number, not even by mnemonic
    		in an LED display.
    
    	2) Modulation - was a button, not a wheel.  A continuous controller
    		with only one bit of resolution is a bit much for me.
    	
    	3) Two oscillators; saw and square waves only in 4 frequencies
    		each.
    	
    	4) Eight-voice polyphonic on the oscillators- but only ONE filter
    		which all eight voices went into.  The filter could
    		be programmed to track the highest note, the lowest
    		note, or the average note!
    
    The keyboard was subsequently sold for $400, then stolen from the
    buyer in a burglary.  Nobody shed any tears- except possibly the
    burglar when they tried to fence it and found that it was worthless...
    	                                                           
    -Bill
    

    Sounds like you'd do better building a synth out of SID chips and
    hooking it up to a C64...
    
    Steve_who_thought_the_CZ-101_was_bottom_of_the_line ;-)

    re .10 - now Steve, that's not fair;  the CZ-101 was certainly
    inexpensive (not to be confused with "cheap"), but was (and still
    is) in many ways far more sophisticated than many synths costing
    quite a bit more.  Yeah, it was the "bottom" of the CZ line of synths,
    but it was certainly not the bottom of the barrel.
    
    len.
    

    Gee, sorry, len.  You're right.  Does that mean I actually have
    to start treating my CZ with *respect*? ;-)
    
    Steve

    Has anyone heard or bought a Keytek? I'm thinking of trading my AX73 in
    for a Keytek CTS2000, second-hand and it doesn't cost much. 

    Can anybody tell my how the keyboard sensitivity response is, although
    it shouldn't be worse than the AX73 from Akai. 

    Anyway, Merry Christmas!!
    
    Frank

    I have traded my Akai AX73 in for the CTS2000. If anyone is interested
    I can tell you what I think of it, if anyone is interested.
    BTW it is very cheap.
    
    Frank